I see them as a combination of idealism and experience. We all have good ideas about how things ought to be, but the more experienced in life we become, the more it seems our idealism becomes tempered by reality and the foibles of human nature.

With all this, at the age of 50, I find myself evolving in a more conservative direction on some issues and at the same time becoming more liberal on a few others. I'm beginning to have big problems with the death penalty. Not because I don't think there are people who deserve the ultimate penalty, but because I wonder if they should live out their lives with the memories of their crimes as they approach the final unknown. That might be the worst punishment of all. At this part of my life I am finding that a lot of things I thought were black and white have some shades of gray.